It’s time that we hung up on these nuisance callers – EXPRESS COMMENT

COLD calls or nuisance calls are one of the major irritants of the modern age. It is estimated that there were 3.9 billion tiresome calls and texts last year. Some people simply give up answering their landline phones because the chances are there will be someone on the other end who just wants a "few minutes of your time" in which to sell you something you almost certainly don't need.

Cold calls or nuisance calls are one of the major irritants of the modern age (Image: Ammentorp Photography)

The pests will also ring you on a mobile phone to ask you questions about a mythical car accident "that wasn't your fault".

You can hang up, you can block, you can make use of all the helpful methods of avoiding nuisance calls – but still they come.

Some are fraudsters, some are simply pushy. For people who are tech savvy and clued up it’s merely a waste of time and a cause of exasperation. But for some – often older and less confident – a cold call can be alarming and threatening. Older people who set store by politeness will not hang up. The voice of “authority”, questioning and provoking can be a source of anxiety.

And at long last the Government is said to be getting tough. There is already the power to impose fines but with £17.8million worth of fines issued since 2010, only half of these have been paid.

Under the new proposals directors of these companies would be made personally liable. At the moment these firms can be liquidated in order to avoid paying fines and are relaunched under another name.

It really is time to stop this practice. It’s been going on far too long.

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